Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad has provided an insight into his frustrations at the politicisation of cricket with arch-rival India.

"It is regrettable that politics has spilled over into sports and ... cricketing ties have been suspended," writes Miandad in Cutting Edge, My Autobiography.

"Rivalry with Pakistan apart, Indians are among the best cricket connoisseurs and know how to appreciate a performance."

India has boycotted bilateral cricket with Pakistan since 2000 but the recent thaw has generated hopes of a revival in the near future.

Miandad said players do not subscribe to mixing politics and sports.

"One of the greatest things about Pakistan-India cricket has been that despite the political uneasiness, relations between the players have always been excellent and players have come to loathe the mixing of politics and sports," he observed.

Miandad played his 100th Test during India's last tour of Pakistan in 1989-90 and was coach when his side last toured India 10 years later.

While flaying the politicisation of sport, he had only good words to say about sledging, for which Australian players in particular have been criticised.

Mianded portrayed it as "gamesmanship".

"Sledging is one of the things that gives cricket an aggressive edge and it should be thought of as gamesmanship.

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